: Re: Is it dull to have a world where all characters cannot speak properly? I am thinking about setting my story in a postapocalyptic world where all art and literature are gone, and people are

@Sims2267584

Vote Up Vote Down

Depending on specifics of your setting, two approaches to avoid the problem you are concerned about (readers being bored) are:

Show the characters thought processes (from narrator point of view).

Dialogs by themselves add something to the work, of course, but their main purpose is to showcase what the character is thinking and feeling. As such, you can replace it with narrator explanations of person's thoughts.

A good example of this in a lot of literature is situations where a shy/introverted person tries to talk to someone they are attracted to. The dialog is (often deliberately) stilted, and limited:

'uh' - was what came out his mouth. "Smooth, Smith" thought he to himself. Way to impress a lady". A blush of embarassment spread all over his face.

Make the plot interesting.

R2-D2's or Chewbacca's limited vocabulary don't seem to bore anyone watching Star Wars. Because storytelling!!!
Additionally, the setting where most people are incapable of expressing deep thoughts seems to be quite realistic, in some way. So it may not be as much of a suspension of disbelief for the reader as you worry.

I mean, have you ever read Youtube or forum comments or Twitter? :)

(0)

Login to post a comment!